ONIONS PROTEST IN INDIA

This is something that occurs almost every other year.

At around 24 million tonnes annually, India is the world’s second-largest producer of onions, behind China. Maharashtra accounts for more than half of this. About 10-15% of the countrywide produce is exported to other countries.

At Namdev Thakare’s vast family farm in Nashik district, rows and rows of onions lie rotting.

The farmer says he doesn’t want to spend money to hire labourers to harvest the onions and take them to market because he can’t recover the costs.

He is among thousands of farmers in Maharashtra who are protesting after onion prices suddenly crashed over the past few weeks. One of them burned his crop in desperation after sending an invitation to the state’s chief minister; others have posted parcels of onions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bid to draw attention.